Method of making boots from knitted tubular stock



April 12, 1949. R E. SHERMAN ETAL METHOD OF MAKING BOOTS FROM KNITTED TUBULAR STOCK mea March 18, 194e INVENTORS. effizcz?? f 76228022 Patented Apr. 12, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD OF MAKING BOOTS FROM KNITTED TUBULAR STOCK Application March 18, 1946, Serial No. 655,144

4 Claims. 1

Our invention relates to boots and a method of making same, and has reference more particularly to a construction and method wherein the boot is made from an initially straight tubular section.

Boots of the character to which this invention relates are usually made of knitted material, a blank therefor being knitted in substantially the shape of the boot but in a very large size, somewhat like a large knitted sock, and then fulled and shrunk to the required boot size, thus compacting the material into a thickened, dense felt-like mass, after which the sole, heel, fastenings, and reinforcings are applied to form the completed boot.

The making of such blanks is relatively slow, however, because of the sock shape or boot form in which each blank is knitted, and moreover, quite complicated knitting machines are required to knit the blanks in the boot form with the foot portion knitted at an angle to the leg portion and closed at the toe.

The principal objects of our invention are to simplify and facilitate the making of knitted wool boots; to utilize straight tubular stock for making the blanks from which the boots are made: and to produce a knitted wool boot more economically than heretofore and which is as serviceable as those heretofore produced, these and other objects being accomplished as more fully pointed out hereinafter and as shown in the accompanying drawing in which,

Fig. l is a side view of the blank employed for making the boot and showing fragmentarily in dotted lines a length of stock from which the blank is cut;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the open end of the boot blank;

Fig. 3 is a side view of the adjustable form on which the blank, after fulling and shrinking, is shaped into the boot form, the form being shown in the straightened out position and the blank being shown in dotted lines thereon;

Fig. 4 is a similar view of the form adjusted to the boot shape and showing the foot formed blank thereon in dotted lines, and

Fig. 5 is a side view of the completed boot.

in making a boot in accordance with the present invention, no sock shaped blank is required, butinstead the material-from which the boot is to be made is knitted in continuous straight tubular form, a fragmentary portion of the length thereof being represented in Fig. 1 by the full line portion Ill and the dotted line extensions Il thereof, a coarse Wool yarn being employed and the material knitted in sufficiently large tubular form so that blanks cut therefrom, when fulled and shrunk, as hereinafter explained, will be of the proper size for the boot that is to be made therefrom.

Thereafter the knitted tube is cut into suitable lengths ior making the boots, such as the length between the lines l2 and I3, and then each length is stitched around one end, as indicated at I4 in suitable shape to form the toe of the finished boot and the surplus material trimmed off beyond the stitching along the line l5, which latter trimming operation may be performed simultaneously with the stitching by a suitable trimming device attached to and operable conjointly with the stitching machine as is wel] known in the art.

Preferably the stitching extends along the sides of the tube substantially beyond the ends I6 of the trimmed edge l5, as indicated at ll, so as to avoid any possibility of breaking open of the stitching at these ends in the subsequent manufacturing operations or in the use of the boot, and thus a secure connection is assured and the seam portion is so completely incorporated in the structure in the subsequent operations that it substantially disappears and becomes invisible.

After the blank l0 has been prepared as above described, the blank is turned insidev out so that the edge of the seam is at the inside and then the blank is fulled and shrunk to the size required for the boot.

This fulling and shrinking is performed by lling a wooden tub containing dilute sulphuiic acid with these blanks I0, all turned inside out as aforesaid, and beating them in this sulphurlc acid bath, this being an operation that is well known in the art and the same operation that has appearance thereof is changed to that of a densely compacted felt of appreciably greater thick-- ness than the original knitted material.

After this fulling and shrinking operation, the blank is then steamed so that the bres are pliable, and after steaming it is placed on a form on which it is stretched and shaped in the boot shape.

This form, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, is of a semicollapsible type which may be adjusted to an elongated form as shown in Fig. 3 to facilitate application of the straight shrunken blank Iii thereon, after which it is adjusted to the foot shape form of Fig. 4 to stretch and shape the blank as required for the boot.

Thus, this form is made with front and rear leg portions I8 and I9 respectively, properly shaped or rounded to correspond substantially to the front and rear of the leg and connected by spaced links 2li and 2| so that they are relatively movable longitudinally, and the link 2I, which is pivoted to the front leg portion I8 approximately at the instep bend, has attached thereto an eX- tension 22 of instep and toe form with a rearwardly extending part 23, which in the normal Fig. 4 position of the form, projects toward the lower end of the rear leg portion i9 which is shaped at its lower end as at 24 to correspond to the required heel shape, the heel portion 24 being arranged to cooperate with the extension 23 of the instep and toe portion 22 to form the bottom or sole portion of the boot.

Thus, by relative adjustment of the two leg portions I 8 and I9, the instep and toe portion 22 may be adjusted to project upwardly as shown in Fig. 3 to facilitate application thereon of the shrunken and steamed blank I which is then pulled down thereon as indicated by the dotted lines at III in Fig. 3, it being desirable in this operation of applying the blank I0 to arrange the blank thereon so that the seam produced by the stitching I'd extends transversely across the toe of the form so that in the finished boot it will lie in a plane substantially parallel with the bottom of the boot.

After the steamed and shrunken blank lil has been applied on the -collapsed form of Fig. 3, the form is then adjusted to the normal foot shape of Fig. 4, this being preferably accomplished by a machine which engages the outer ends of the leg portions IB and I9 and relatively adjusts same so as to force the angle and toe portion 22 of the form to the 90 degree position of Fig. 4, and thereby stretch and shape the blank to the required boot shape as indicated by dotted lines at IIJ in Fig. 4.

After the blank is dried and set on the Fig. 4 form in the required boot shape, it is removed from the form and the counter strip 25 and counter 26 secured thereon, also the sole 2l' and heel 28, and it is slitted down the front and provided with the usual closing means, su-ch as eyelets 29 and lace 3D, all in the same manner as in previous felt boots of this type.

In the shaping of the steamed blank Ill on the form of Figs. 3 and 4, there is some thinning out of the material around the heel area because of the stretching thereof to the heel shape, but this thinning out is of no consequence because theV material is covered and amply reinforced at these places by the counter strip 25 and counter 26 and also the heel portion of the sole 21.

While we have shown and described our invention in a. preferred form, we are aware that modications can be made therein without departing fr ornthe spirit of the invention, the scope of which is to be determined by the appended claims.

What we claim as our invention is:

1. The method of making a boot of the class described, which said method comprises providing substantially straight seamless knitted woolen tube stock of substantially uniform circumferential size throughout its length, cutting from said stock a length of tubing suitable for the boot and stitching a seam arcuately across one open end thereof to form a conveXly rounded closure across said end, then shrinking said closed end tubing and thereby thickening and compacting the knitted woolen wall thereof, and thereafter deforming and permanently shaping a seamless portion of said tubing from the straight tubular form thereof into angular composite heel, ankle and instep form with the seamed end of the tubing localized in the toe portion of the boot.

2. The method of making a boot of the class described, which said method comprises providing substantially straight seamless knitted woolen tube stock of substantially uniform circumferential size throughout its length, cutting from said stock a length of tubing suitable for the boot and stitching and trimming a seam arcuately across one open end thereof to form a con- Vexly rounded closure across said end, then turning the closed end tubing inside out, then shrinking said closed end tubing and thereby thickening and compacting the knitted woolen wall thereof, and thereafter deforming and permanently shaping a seamless portion of said tubing from the straight tubular form thereof into angular composite heel, ankle and instep form with the seamed end of the tubing localized in the toe portion of the boot.

3. The method of making a boot of the class described, which said method comprises providing substantially straight seamless knitted woolen tube stock of substantially uniform circumferential size throughout its length, cutting from said stock a length of tubing suitable for the boot and stitching and trimming a seam arcuately across one open end thereof to form a convexly rounded closure across said end, then turning the closed end tub-ing inside out, then shrinking said closed end tubing and thereby thickening and compacting the knitted woolen wall thereof, and thereafter deforming and permanently shaping a seamless portion of said tubing from the straight tubular form thereof into angular composite heel, ankle and instep form with the seam at lthe end of the tubing localized and embedded in and extending transversely across the toe portion of the boot.

4. The method of making a boot of the class described, which said method comprises providing substantially straight seamless knitted woolen tube stock of substantially uniform circumferential size throughout its length, cutting from said stock a length of tubing suitable for the boot and stitching and trimming a seam arcuately across one open end thereof to form a convexly rounded closure across said end, then turning the closed end tubing inside out, then shrinking said closed end tubing and thereby thickening and compacting the knitted woolen wall thereof, and thereafter deforming and permanently shaping a seamless portion of said tubing from the straight tubular form thereof into angular composite heel, ankle and instep form with the seam at the end of the tubing localized and embedded in and extending transversely across the toe portion of the boot, then slitting the front of the seamless ltube and applying fastening means therealong and also attaching a. sole and Number heel reinforcings to the foot shaped portion of 297,280 the tubing. 322,285 ROY E. SHERMAN. 343,135 LUDWIG P. HANSON. 5 376,373 501,133 REFERENCES CITED 533,528 The following references are of record in the 112201209 file of this patent: 13663627 10 1,972,976 UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,147,197 Number Name Date 2,292,455

256,538 Bissell Apr. 18, 1882 6 Name Date Messer Apr. 22, 1884 Hawley July 14, 1885 Messer June 1, 1886 Dodge Jan. 10, 1888 Clark July 11, 1893 Ephraim June 1, 1897 Ellis Mar. 21, 1917 Glidden June 24, 1930 Burnham Sept. 11, 1934 Glidden Feb. 14, 1939 LHollier Aug. 11, 1942 

